A Win? Hey, I remember those!

"Alex Smith's Pass. Incomplete to--BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

So the 49ers finally won a game last Sunday, defeating the Oakland Raiders 17-9. So, yeah, hooray and stuff. 1-5 really isn't grounds to get excited about your prospects, unless of course you happen to be the youngest team owner in the NFL -- er, excuse me, THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (tm) -- in which case now would be the time to continue hilariously texting reporters and columnists that your team is going to win the division. Which, amusingly enough, could theoretically still happen, since the division in question is the NFC West. But even though fan reflex is to overreact to everything, which means saving up money for playoff tickets after a first win every bit as much as it does typing angry manifesto emails to the sports talk radio station demanding all coaches be fired and anyone who fumbles should have their fumbling hand cut off like they did in Mesopatamia (its not just football, its Sumer Goatherds Football!) after a loss, its important to remember standard sports cliche #27: It's Just One Game. Also, team owners acting like their team's fans is only cute when the team is winning. 1-5 isn't winning, even if that 1 is the most recent game.

Additionally, for the second week in a row the frustrated Candlestick Crowd got in a stretch where started booing every single incomplete pass thrown by Alex Smith and chanting "We Want Carr" loud enough that it remained audible even over Rich Gannon and Bill Macatee reading CBS promo copy. Considering Candlestick's mediocre acoustics (old oddly shaped multi-purpose stadium that still bears its odd nooks and angled seating sections from having to once accommodate the Giants) and paleolithic Press Box, is an impressive testament to 49er fan ire. Angry Fans Will Not Be Denied. As usual, the only way to shut this sort of thing up is to complete every single pass and never fuck up ever even slightly, and throw a touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree, and then Vernon Davis. At which point the fans start cheering like nothing was ever wrong. Pretty typical game for Alex, as he started off 2 for 12, hence the BOOOOOS, and finishing with a mad flourish that makes his numbers look better than they probably ought. Although it must be noted that he had a big Goose Egg in the turnover department, neither fumbling nor throwing any drive or comeback killing interceptions that bounce off his receiver's hands and into those of defenders like the footballs are deliberately performing Prolate Spheroid Interception Parkour, so Hammurabi will permit Alex to keep both his hands.

The Code Of Hammurabi. It loosely translates to
"Run up the middle twice, bootleg and throw a pass to the sidelines, then punt."

To beat the dead horse further, 49er fans are rather hard on Alex. There's a lot of reasons for this, a lot of layers to the emotions in this fan/player relationship that could fill an entire article by themselves (and they eventually will, perhaps during the bye week). Oddly enough, it seems just when 49er fans are at their most frustrated, he starts playing really well, as if the all the booing and all the ludicrous chanting for David Carr to come into the game (no, really) somehow inspires Alex Smith to be all he can be. Or it just pisses him off and he starts playing better just to spite who are just going to be mad at him for being Not Joe Montana anyway. Either way, this fan rage seems to work, which is unfortunate because it just encourages further booing and We Want Carr chants because they might be Good Luck Charms.

The good news is Alex Smith won't have to deal with his mercurial fan base this week, because the 49ers are on the road in Charlotte (or is it Raleigh?) taking on the Carolina Panthers. The bad news, however, is... they're on the road, taking on the Carolina Panthers. Sure, the Panthers are 0-5 and almost reduced to the point of picking fit-looking people out of the audience to play quarterback, but that fan HAS had a bye week's worth of extra preparation for this game. Last week, the 49ers were an 0-5 team, too. You don't get to look down on an 0-5 team and take them for granted when you are just that recently removed from being one yourself.

But hey, here's hoping. And yes, HOPING to beat an 0-5 team is the situation the 49ers are in.